In the second day of racing at the Windermere Rowing Classic in Redwood City, Calif., the No. 8 Wisconsin mens rowing team faced No. 4 Cal. UWs second varsity eight earned its third win of the weekend, defeating Cal by five seconds, and starting the season off with an unblemished record in 2K racing.
The Windermere Rowing Classic welcomed over 1,000 athletes to the two-day regatta. Athletes competed in Henley style racing, which is a one-on-one or two-boat race used for competition at the famous Henley Royal Regatta in Henley-on-Thames, England.
Clear, cool and breezy weather conditions were reported for Sunday morning, with racing commencing at 7:30 a.m. As opposed to racing two opponents like on Saturday, UWs only opponent was Cal, whose first race of the weekend was that morning against the Badgers.
Hitting the water first for Wisconsin was the mens freshmen eight boat. Cal led at every checkpoint in the race, and clocked a time of 5:54.56 to top UW who recorded a time of 6:16.31.
Wisconsins second varsity eight boat was the next to face Cal. UWs boat of Chase Phillips (coxswain), Peter Helfter, Anthony Hoell, Grant James, Nate Millin, Ed Newman, Ross James, George Walters and Sam Austin finished in a time of 5:55.68, topping Cal who recorded a time of 6:00.57. (Times are incorrect due to equipment malfunctions, but will be updated as soon as possible.) The win was the crews third of the weekend, defeating both Washington and Stanford on Saturday.
They had a pretty extraordinary performance on their part, head coach Chris Clark said. Not only did they win those races, but they won them easily. That is good for us because it shows we have a lot of depth.
Competing at 11 a.m., the mens varsity eight race was Wisconsins last event of the weekend. Although UW started the race just two seconds behind at 500 meters, Cal pulled off the win clocking a time of 5:49.76, compared to the Badgers 5:56.24.
Next up for the Badgers is the annual Midwest Rowing Championships in Madison, Wis., on Saturday, April 21. The event hosted by the UW will take place on Lake Wingra near Vilas Park.
